Pick and place devices are of importance in automated product handling lines since when combined with sensors such as weighing cells, photocells, cameras and the like, articles on a conveyor belt can for example be identified according to size, colour, shape etc. and picked up and placed for example on an another conveyor, or into preformed packaging.
WO 2003/011536 A1 describes a gripping apparatus for pick and place handling of articles. The described device includes a pair of fingers between which articles are sandwiched, around which flexible belts pass which are movable relative to the fingers so as to lift or slide an article therebetween when moved in one sense, and downwardly or outwardly to deposit the article when the belts are moved in the opposite sense.
While such a pick and place device can be used to pick and place articles which can be lightly squeezed to allow the belts to engage and move them, it is of little value if the articles cannot be squeezed or cannot be picked up by such a device, such as in the case of thin slices of meat or thin slices of fish.